Mystery Melange

The Crime Writers’ Association unveiled the longlist for this year’s Dagger in the Library prize, which recognizes an author for their complete body of work. Nominations came from votes cast by readers online through the award’s sponsor, the Penguin Random House crime imprint Dead Good. A panel of judges will decide the shortlist to be made public on June 9, with the winner announced at the end of the month.

The CWA also announced the five finalists for the Margery Allingham Short Story competition, created in 2013 to celebrate the short story and Margery Allingham’s contribution to crime writing. This year's list includes Ruth Moore, Clare Littleford, Mike Ripley, Lesley Mace, and Christopher Fowler.

Budding spies will be given lessons in espionage during Spy Week at Edinburgh University. The events from May 18-23 will include panels and talks by celebrated spy-fiction writers and screenings of classic films.

A group of London-based female crime writers have teamed up for Killer Women, similar to Sisters in Crime in the U.S., to offer special events, debates, interviews, talks and workshops. The fifteen founding authors hope that "the collaborative approach will not only promote their own work but help forge a closer bond with readers as well."

The 2015 Writers' Police Academy Golden Donut 200-Word Short Story Contest is officially open for submissions. Author Sara Gruen (Water for Elephants) will serve as judge this year, and you don't have to be registered for the conference to enter or win.

The 26th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association will be held in Philadelphia in November, and there's a call for scholarly papers on the subject of Detective Fiction, with interdisciplinary submissions encouraged. The deadline for submissions is June 29.

In honor of Booklist's "Mystery Month" celebration, they compiled a listing of the "101 Best Crime Novels of the Past Decade," culled from the publication's reviews during that period.

Think you're seeing a lot more spy action in books, on TV, and in the movies these days? You're not alone, as The Guardian noted in the article "From Spooks to The Game, why the bleak world of spy thrillers is back."

In two separate articles, two British authors discussed why research is so important, as Minette Walters reported she'd "done a lot of research into what makes a psychopath," while Peter James discussed what it's like to meet a real-life serial killer.

The Suspense Magazine lineup this month includes author interviews and features of John Sandford, Greg Iles, J.T. Ellison, Ace Atkins, Kristi Belcamino, and a special excerpt from Allison Brennan, plus the usual book reviews, articles, and short fiction.

Thrills, Kills 'n' Chaos editor David Barber is re-opening the flash site to submissions of up to 1,000 words in the genres of crime, thriller, and horror. (Hat tip to Sandra Seamans.)

Huffington Post profiled journalist Alex Johnson's book Improbable Libraries, which documents unusual and visually striking libraries from across the globe.

Kobo and its media partners are teaming up to provide free access to hundreds of digital publications from Kobo's digital reading platform via Southwest Airlines' inflight entertainment portal. The roster includes complete books as well as extended previews of top titles and new releases across all genres and various publishers.

Turning a sad story into a positive one: when a signed JK Rowling crime novel was stolen from an Egham charity shop, Rowling's publisher replaced the hard-back copy of Silkworm alongside a copy of The Casual Vacancy, both signed by the author and with her official hologram inside. A buyer who heard of the news bought both for about $650 U.S.

The Los Angeles Times reported that journalist-turned-novelist Edward Wright died a the age of 75. Wright was best known for his three books featuring John Ray Horn, a former B-movie western actor and ex-felon whose entanglements turn him into a sleuth. The first in the series, Clea’s Moon (2003) won England’s Debut Dagger Award for unpublished writers, and later books won a Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America and the Ellis Peters Historical Award from the British Crime Writers Association.

In the Q&A roundup, Lesa Holstein welcomes Vicki Delany, President of Crime Writers of Canada and author of the Constable Molly Smith series; thriller author Shannon Kirk stopped by Omnimystery News to talk about her debut thriller Method 15/33; and Crime Scene NI welcomed Steve Cavanagh, whose novel The Defence has been chosen as one of Amazon's great debuts for 2015.